


Those three words

by everythingisconnected



Category: Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Academy Era, Childhood Friends, Crushes, Cuddling & Snuggling, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Holding Hands, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:20:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24281203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everythingisconnected/pseuds/everythingisconnected
Summary: Theta is hopelessly pining for his best friend Koschei, Ushas is involuntarily the mum friend, and the Deca are sick of the pair of them.
Relationships: The Doctor | Theta Sigma/The Master | Koschei (Doctor Who: Academy Era), The Doctor/The Master (Doctor Who)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 44





	Those three words

**Author's Note:**

> mostly inspired by a tumblr post i saw. they're just soft bastards who are bad at communication, and nothing has changed

It had definitely been that Earth movie he’d watched. The cheesy one about this couple who’d been childhood friends, and had grown to love each other romantically.

That was when these thoughts had started. 

Theta had found himself obsessing over that movie. It was nothing special, the plot and the characters were pretty boring. But the way they’d touched each other, been close, so intimate, it’d really stuck with him.

He’d been having regular fantasies about himself in those situations, and had decided that was something he might enjoy. The other person in these situations with him was none other than his best friend Koschei.

They were close. Very close. So close the rest of the Deca regularly bullied them about it. Playfully, of course.

It wasn’t normal in Time Lord society to be this close, especially physically, with another. Theta had never liked Time Lord society anyway, and neither did Koschei. Relationships were rarely formed out of love, and mostly for either looming or political reasons.

But what the people in the movie had been describing as their feelings for each other, was pretty much exactly how Theta felt about Koschei.

He wouldn’t mind holding him as they slept. He’d love to walk through the halls holding hands. Kissing looked nice too, and the sex thing, was something he’d never really thought about before but would consider trying. 

Koschei was a rebel too, but maybe he wouldn’t want these things with Theta. Maybe he had eyes for somebody else.

That’s how he ended up in Ushas’ room, at some ridiculously late hour.

“Ushas, do you know anything about romance?”

She shot him a death glare. “Theta, I’m busy. Go annoy Koschei.”

“He’s- he’s out,” Theta scrambled for an excuse. “C’mon, please help me out?”

She sighed and turned to face him from her desk. “This better be important.”

“It is,” Theta said. “It’s about Koschei.”

“What? You’ve set a date for the wedding?”

“What?! No,” Theta blushed. “So- wait, you do know about romance?”

“A small amount.”

“Good,” Theta sighed in relief. “I- I can’t stop thinking about Koschei. I watched this Earth movie the other week and they were in love and kissing and cuddling and I want that with him.”

Ushas raised an eyebrow. “Am I supposed to be surprised?”

“Wait, you’re not?”

“If you two decided to leave Gallifrey and elope, none of us would be shocked in the slightest,” Ushas rolled her eyes. “You’re closer than any stuffy Time Lords I’ve met.”

“Yeah, I suppose we are,” Theta ran a hand through his hair. “What do I do? Do I just ask him? What if he doesn’t want to? Ushas, I think I’m in love with him. My hearts get all fluttery when he smiles at me. He hugged me really tight the other day and I almost kissed him right there.”

“Oh, Theta,” she sighed, with a tiny smile. “You’ve got a crush.”

“But, Ushas you don’t understand, it’s not normal to want this, it’s beneath us, I’ll never make a Time Lord-”

“Shut up, do you hear yourself?” Ushas laughed. “When have any of us ever cared about the rules?”

“You have a point,” Theta chuckled. “But what do I do? How do I sleep at night when all I want to do is climb into bed with him and fall asleep in his arms?”

“You’ve literally killed for each other,” Ushas said. “I think it’ll be easy enough to talk to him about this. Now I’ve had enough of your nonsense. I’m continuing my experiment.”

“Thanks for the help,” Theta groaned sarcastically, reluctantly leaving her room. He had studying to do, maybe that’d help him to take his mind off this.

-

Borusa was droning on about temporal theory. Theta wasn’t hearing any of it.

Koschei kept whispering jokes about Borusa into his ear and he couldn’t stop laughing. There was also the fact they were sitting so close together their arms and legs were touching. That was rather distracting.

“Theta Sigma, I’d like it if you paid attention,” Borusa said sternly, looming above their desk. “And you, Oakdown. Trouble, the pair of you.”

“Sorry sir,” Theta said, trying not to crack up laughing.

“Yeah, what he said,” Koschei added, with a smirk.

Borusa shook his head and continued teaching.

Koschei had a really nice laugh. Theta loved hearing it, and loved being the cause of it. There was also the way he had that one strand of hair that fell over his eyes, and the shape of his lips, and the shape of his jaw-

Theta wanted to kiss every inch of him.

“Thete, did you hear what I said?” Koschei whispered. 

His voice was so deep and soothing.

“Wh- what?” Theta shook himself out of his daydream. 

He was so fucked.

-

Theta should be studying.

Instead he was using the piece of wood that was meant for his practical project, for reasons completely unrelated to that project.

He was using his favourite gold ink pen, and was concentrating intensely on writing his and Koschei’s names in Gallifreyan on the piece of wood. It’d be a cute decoration for their dorm.

Hopefully it’d make Koschei smile.

That was all he wanted anyway.

Koschei was all he wanted.

He was still too much of a coward to mention it to him.

-

When Koschei returned to their room, he was about to speak when he saw the new decoration Theta had added to their wall.

“Theta- wait, did you make that?”

Theta looked up from his project at his desk. His eyes widened and a blush came to his cheeks when he saw Koschei’s robes were half-open. He’d seen him naked before, but now he was starting to view it differently and realise how attractive his best friend was.

“Theta?”

“Yeah, yeah I did,” Theta grinned, shaking himself out of it.

“I- I love it,” Koschei was smiling widely. “I can’t believe you made it for me.”

“I was bored,” Theta lied, knowing it was because he was a pining idiot who just wanted to impress his crush.

“Thank you,” Koschei grinned, taking Theta by surprise and crouching down, putting a hand on his cheek, and wait, what was he doing?

He kissed him.

Just like that.

It was brief and chaste and over almost as soon as it began. Koschei had disappeared into their en suite, leaving Theta flushed and speechless.

What had just happened?

Theta’s hearts were pounding in his chest, he was breathing heavily, he was pretty sure his face had gone bright red.

His first instinct was to bolt out of their room and head straight for Ushas.

-

“Theta, I swear to Rassilon-”

“Ushas, I’m freaking out,” Theta leapt onto her bed and ran his hands through his hair. “He kissed me! I was just sitting there and he kissed me out of nowhere!”

“Wait, he actually did?” Ushas chuckled to herself. “Sounds like Koschei. He probably did it deliberately to watch you suffer.”

“Why would he just kiss me and disappear like that, wait, did you tell him what I told you?”

“What? You know I wouldn’t.”

“Then why did he do it?”

“I can’t say the same about the rest of the Deca though…”

“Ushas!” Theta frowned. “You- you’ve all been discussing me, behind my back?”

Ushas scoffed. “That’s nothing new, Thete. Don’t worry, no one has told him.”

“But-” Theta sighed, burying his head in his hands. 

“Why do you see me as the expert in romance anyway?” Ushas said. “Just talk to him, for Rassilon’s sake. Put us all out of our misery.”

“You’re the mum friend,” Theta said. “Fine, I’ll talk to him. But if he hates me forever, I’m blaming you.”

“He’s gonna hate you Theta, that’s why he just kissed you! Now quit bothering me with your love life. I’d rather listen to Drax describe the shapes of rocks.”

Theta sighed and left.

-

Of course, being the dumbass he was, Theta didn’t talk about it to Koschei. Koschei seemed to be acting as if their kiss hadn’t happened. He hadn’t mentioned it, at least.

They’d spent the day at Koschei’s father’s estate, running through the fields together like they did when they were younger. This was the only time when Koschei held his hand, and Theta was savouring it.

In the evening they’d decided to sit under a bunch of trees, in the red grass with the rest of the Deca. The view was incredible - the citadel in the distance and the twin suns setting.

“I can guarantee my teacher is the worst,” Theta heard Magnus say. “Do you ever just want to send them through a wormhole?”

“I’ve had many daydreams about murdering Borusa,” Koschei added. “I’ve got so many plans in my head - I’d love to see that man suffer.”

“C’mon Kos, maybe don’t go straight for murder,” Theta said. “Instead - torture. Or major inconvenience.”

“He’s quite fond of that boy who sits at the front. Maybe if something happened to him-”

“I like where you’re going with this,” Theta grinned. 

“That’d definitely piss him off. That kid is annoying too.”

“I don’t even know his name,” Theta said.

They carried on chatting for hours. Theta really did love his group of chaotic friends, they all had the best conversations. Even though he was getting more and more distracted by the light of the setting suns on Koschei’s skin. It made him look even more perfect than he already was, if that were possible. And his laugh. His hands, the way Theta wished so hard he could hold them whenever he wanted. The way he always made Theta laugh with his dumb jokes.

“Theta, will you quit staring at Koschei and answer my question?”

Theta snapped out of his daze by Millenia shoving at his shoulder. 

“What, I’m not staring at Koschei-”

Ushas scoffed. “You were.”

“I wasn’t! I was looking behind him!”

Drax laughed. “Admit it Thete, you have the hots for him.”

“I don’t! He’s my friend! Guys, drop it.”

“I wouldn’t blame him,” Koschei smirked, running a hand through his hair. “Have you seen me?”

They all groaned. 

“I’d rather kiss one of the rats in the alleys than you,” Ushas said. “Don’t get too ahead of yourself.”

“Hey, that’s rude,” Koschei frowned. “Fuck you, Ushas. I’m very kissable.”

“Oh yeah?” Magnus scoffed. 

“He’s making it up,” Millenia laughed. 

“Theta, come here,” Koschei turned to his friend, holding his cheek and leaning in again…

Theta gasped as their lips met, eyes shooting open in shock and body going rigid. No, this was still happening. Koschei’s lips were so soft and his tongue was nudging Theta’s bottom lip, helping him to relax a little. Koschei wasn’t getting out of this one, not this time.

Theta grabbed him by the back of his head and pulled them closer, crushing their mouths together and meeting his tongue with his own. This was everything he’d been dreaming of, their lips were moving together, fast and passionate, Koschei was biting at his lips and licking over them and Theta wasn’t sure how much longer he could take before his hearts burst out of his chest.

“Guys!” 

They pulled apart, panting heavily. Koschei was quick to compose himself, smirking and leaning back against the tree. Then there was Theta, an absolute flustered mess. He could taste Koschei on his lips and felt as though he’d ascended to another fucking dimension.

“See? I am,” Koschei grinned. “I’m a great kisser. You can all shut up now.”

“I think you’ve broken Theta,” Drax chuckled, gesturing to where Theta was sitting, still internally freaking out.

“Me? I’m fine,” Theta was obsessively licking his lips and fidgeting with his robes. He was anything but fine.

“Did you really have to do that in front of all of us?” Ushas said. “Just to prove a point?”

“You wouldn’t believe me,” Koschei said. “You asked for it.”

“Ew, we certainly didn’t,” Millenia added, her face scrunched in disgust. “Go do whatever you want with Theta - but in your dorm.”

They were all murmuring agreement and whispering among themselves. 

“Thete, are you OK?” Koschei nudged his friend from where he was sitting beside him.

“I said I’m fine,” Theta said, unintentionally sounding grumpy. 

“Hm,” Koschei didn’t sound convinced, but it seemed to be another thing they didn’t bring up again.

-

Weeks later, and Koschei still hadn’t mentioned either of the times they’d kissed.

This was getting ridiculous. 

Theta was still spending every day and night thinking about him. How if he just fucking brought it up, he could be able to kiss Koschei whenever he wanted. Kissing was fun. There were other things he wanted to do more often too.

The opportunity just hadn’t come.

That was the excuse he was telling himself, at least.

That night, Koschei had woken up screaming from a nightmare. So they did what they usually did, sneak up to the observatory to watch the stars until he calmed down.

They lay beside each other, pointing out constellations they’d visit together in the future. Practically planning out their life together once they finally got away from Gallifrey.

There was a comfortable silence. Theta sighed happily, turning to look at his friend beside him. Koschei was smiling softly, he looked so much more content than he’d been earlier, and it warmed Theta’s hearts.

“Kos,” Theta whispered, barely audible.

“Hm?” Koschei turned to face him.

“What if I told you-” the words died in his throat. “Wait, nevermind.”

Koschei frowned. “Tell me, idiot.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s nothing.”

“Theta, I can see inside your mind. Something’s wrong. Tell me.”

Theta sighed, he had his psychic barriers up but it obviously wasn’t enough. “Do you ever think about- do you ever think about love?”

Koschei bit his lip. “Maybe. A few times. Why?”

“I saw it in an Earth movie,” Theta began. “Humans, they have ways of showing love to each other.”

“Not one of your Earth movies,” Koschei rolled his eyes. “Go on though.”

“Like kissing, cuddling, sex-” Theta blushed. “Holding hands.”

Koschei was staring at him intensely. 

“I- I was thinking-” Theta’s hands were shaking, why was he such a coward?

Koschei took his hands in his. Holding his fingers to stop them shaking. It soothed him a lot more than he expected. 

“I’d like you to kiss me again,” Theta said way too fast. “And the other stuff. I love you, Kos.”

Koschei was silent.

“Say something,” Theta said. “Please? Have I made a mistake?”

“No,” Koschei finally spoke. “Not at all.”

“Then?”

“You really want that- with me?” Koschei suddenly looked so vulnerable it threw Theta off for a second.

“I do, I really do.”

“Thete-” 

Oh Rassilon, Koschei was blushing. He’d actually made him blush.

“I love you too, you idiot.”

“So that’s a yes?” Theta’s eyes lit up.

Koschei responded by kissing him.

Theta’s hearts soured. He felt Koschei’s love through their psychic connection, and he gave it back. It was short and sweet, and they pulled back with their foreheads still touching.

“We’ll have to hide it,” Koschei whispered with a smile. “But when have either of us not enjoyed breaking the rules?”

Theta grinned. He threw his arm over Koschei’s chest, buried his head in his shoulder and tangled their legs together. He felt Koschei smile against his hair and place a kiss there, happily holding him close.

Damn, he could see why humans did this often. This had to be the most relaxed he’d felt in years, and he almost couldn’t believe they hadn’t tried it before. Sure, they’d slept in the same bed a few times when they were younger, but never this close, never this intertwined.

“This is uncomfortable,” Koschei said suddenly.

Theta frowned, sadness hitting him. He began to move away from Koschei when he felt the other boy tug him back.

“I meant the ground, idiot.”

“Ohhhh,” Theta internally facepalmed. “I thought you meant-”

“No,” Koschei chuckled. “I meant let’s go back to bed. I haven’t slept in weeks. I’m starting to get a little tired.”

“Yeah, of course,” Theta smiled, and they both reluctantly pulled apart and got to their feet. Koschei smirked, taking Theta’s hand in his own just to see that adorable blush.

“I like this,” Theta smiled as they made their way back. He squeezed Koschei’s hand, receiving one in return.

“I like seeing you all embarrassed. It’s cute,” Koschei remarked playfully. Theta scoffed, leaning up to kiss his cheek just because he could.

“Is that why you kissed me before?”

Koschei laughed. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“But you didn’t try to stop me.”

“I-” Theta began. “Then why didn’t you tell me? If you felt the same why didn’t you say it earlier?”

“There’s a difference between kissing you to get a cute reaction and actually- actually telling you I love you,” Koschei admitted, turning away to hide his blush. They finally reached their dorm and sat down on Koschei’s bed together.

“I thought about it for weeks though,” Theta frowned. “You tortured me.”

“It’s what I do best,” Koschei chuckled, pulling Theta in for another kiss that he happily accepted. 

“I hate you.”

“Earlier you said you loved me, so what’s the truth?”

“Shut up and cuddle me, asshole.”

Koschei sighed. “Fine, whatever you say.”

They both got into Koschei’s bed, and Theta almost melted when he felt Koschei’s arm wrap around his middle and pull him back against his body. That night he fell asleep to Koschei placing small kisses on the back of his neck, and playing with his fingers, and there was honestly nothing that had made him feel more content and loved in all 80 years of his life.

**Author's Note:**

> as always i appreciate kudos and comments very much <3


End file.
